Monday, February 27, 2012

Publishers Weekly Reviews WHEN MAIDENS MOURN

Last year, PW's reviewer really savaged Where Shadows Dance, so I was quite relieved when this year's offering received their nod of approval. Here's the Publishers Weekly review:

When Maidens Mourn: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery C.S. Harris. NAL/Obsidian Set in August 1812, Harris’s intriguing seventh Regency whodunit featuring aristocratic sleuth Sebastian St. Cyr (after 2011’s Where Shadows Dance) marks a return to form. St. Cyr has just married Hero Jarvis, the fiercely capable daughter of his bitterest enemy, Charles, Lord Jarvis, a cousin of the Prince Regent and the power behind the throne. The stabbing murder of Hero’s antiquarian friend, Gabrielle Tennyson, who was studying excavations at Camlet Moat in Trent, disrupts the newlyweds’ honeymoon plans. That Camlet Moat and the legendary Camelot may be one and the same is a more-than-academic point at a time when radicals are “calling for King Arthur to return... and save Britain from the benighted rule of the House of Hanover.” The couple pursue their investigations separately, at the risk of their fragile new relationship. Established fans will best appreciate the personal convolutions, but newcomers will have no trouble keeping up. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Mar.)

6 comments:

Great review! They do add a bit more detail about the book than other reviews I have read, but I don't think they are giving too much away. I think the political/historical angle is a great selling point (at least to me).

I am now curious to find what is it that *they* found to be "out of form" in "Shadows." I don't remember than review...

Looking forward to WMM. I think the phrase "cut to the chase" is an anachronism referring to film editing. Love the characters. I particularly liked your exploration of the idea of honor in your last book.

About Me

A former university professor with an incurable case of wanderlust, I write the Sebastian St. Cyr Regency mystery series under the name of C.S. Harris and thrillers as one half of C.S. Graham. I’ve also written historical romances as Candice Proctor.